Monday, 4 January 2016

A New Year....A New Day

2016 arrived without it's usual bells and whistles for me.....I had a tough lead up to Christmas and wasn't really prepared... or in the festive spirit...very unlike me. But the start of a fresh year always rejuvenates me and inspires me to get back to basics and doing the things that make me most happy.  I have finally had a go at making my own pasta with the machine that has been waiting expectantly to be used for quite a long time......I definitely need a lot more practice ...it looked okay but I think the texture was not quite right ... my lovely husband ate it anyway, but I thought it was very ordinary.  Hopefully practice will make perfect and I will keep at it.


I have planted out the existing vegie beds as we await for major yard construction to be started.  We need to add additional retaining walls as the new yard is quite steep and I want more vegie growing room...you can never have too many vegie beds...The soil here in Gippsland is reddish clay..... needs a fair bit of help to get stuff growing in it.  It's also quite windy here, something we are not used too, and the garden takes quite a battering. 



Have managed to grow a couple of zucchinis and capsicums already.  I had to place some lavender plants around the place as we had quite a bee shortage....hardly any to be seen and not a lot of pollination was going on...the lavender have bought a few into the garden but I definitely need more...my own hive is hopefully on the agenda very soon !!
 
 
 

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9 comments:

  1. John Going Gently4 January 2016 at 16:04

    Love the tea towel x

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    1. Suzie Simplelife5 January 2016 at 13:51

      it's from Italy..... they do make nice tea towels x

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  2. Kathy4 January 2016 at 16:19

    We've made pasta a few times and my only tip is to make it "thin" ....when you think it's "thin" run it through again. We just have a little $15 Kmart pasta maker and the last 2 times we've made pasta it was beautiful. If it's too thick it just takes like rubber. That's the secret in my opinion anyway....it does get easier. And I think also just making enough for dinner rather than spending twice as long making it because it puts you off and it's easy to just go for the pantry pasta. Regards Kathy A, Brisbane

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    1. Suzie Simplelife5 January 2016 at 13:50

      thanks for the tip Kathy...will definitely give that a go...it was also very hot when I made it so not sure if that was also a problem.

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  3. Jan (a gluttonous wife)5 January 2016 at 19:22

    Happy New Year to you Suzie - I hope you are feeling better and more cheery :) Your pasta looks fantastic, a shame it didn't taste so good....lavendar is amazing for the bees, I only found that out recently and have added a few little plants - your vegie garden looks great. Jan x

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    1. Suzie Simplelife11 January 2016 at 21:48

      Thanks Jan, I am coping a lot better with life's dramas.xx

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  4. Fiona from Arbordale Farm11 January 2016 at 02:31

    Happy new Year Suzie. My tip for making pasta is to keep laminating it. Start on the thick setting and drop down 2 sizes at the time till you get to your desired thickness then fold it over on itself and do it again. I posted here http://lifeatarbordalefarm.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/the-weekend-kitchen.html about the recipe I use and if you can get hold of the eggs it is worth it. I freeze mine in portions.

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  5. Laurie22 January 2016 at 18:24

    We're having a winter storm here. It's been years since I used my pasta maker, even though every winter I say I'll make some on one of the cold, indoor days. I got it from the shed and brought it in the house yesterday, with the highest hopes we'll have fresh pasta tomorrow.

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